"The nesting habits of many Osmia species lend themselves to easy cultivation, and a number of Osmia species are commercially propagated in different parts of the world to improve pollination in fruit and nut production. Commercial pollinators include O. lignaria, O. bicornis, O. cornuta, O. cornifrons, O. ribifloris, and O. californica. They are used both as an alternative to and as an augmentation for European honey bees. Mason bees used for orchard and other agricultural applications are all readily attracted to nesting holes – reeds, paper tubes, nesting trays, or drilled blocks of wood; in their dormant season, they can be transported as intact nests (tubes, blocks, etc.) or as loose cocoons."
I love our solitary bees. In the late morning hours when it’s still cold they sit at the opening of their tubes, looking out, warming up, trying to find the inner strength to get up and start doing things and I can relate so much.
My lino print with collaged Japanese washi papers on a white mulberry leaf paper with bark inclusions shows blossoming cherry branches & two of our wild, native bees: the bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) and the Blue Orchard Mason Bee (Osmia lignaria). I printed it by hand on Japanese kozo (or mulberry paper), 16” x 20” with various collaged Japanese washi papers for the blossoms, bee bodies and wings.🧵
The bee parasites are out en force. Blood bees, nomad bees, and worst of all, the bee body snatchers: conopid flies. It’s tough to be a busy bee minding your own business…
Every reference photo of the leaf-cutter bee Megachile roeweri at #iNaturalist was unwittingly contributed by me. Thanks to the identifiers for picking up the species; makes my memories of last year's Crete Drosophila neuroscience meeting even sweeter – all are observations from the grounds around the Crete Orthodox Academy at Kolymvari, Crete Island, Greece.
Turns out I unwittingly reported, one year ago almost to the day, the only observation in the UK, and one of the 4 observations in the whole of Europe, the other 3 being in Belarus. Thanks to the anonymous iNaturalist identifier for the ID – I had only narrowed it down to subgenus Microandrena.
A question to gardeners. Have you noticed any changes in your garden because of climate change. Are you planning or planting or doing anything differently in you garden because of climate change. (Examples in the UK: grass mowing later in year and aphids appearing earlier). (I just asked this on Bluesky also). #Gardening#vegetables#Climate
I am starting #ArtAdventCalendar with this Eastern Snail Shell Mason Bee (Osmia conjuncta), a small North American blue bee which makes nests in suitable empty snail shells! In my linocut I show this adorable little pollinator with a Cepaea shell. Each print is 8” by 8” on delicate Japanese kozo (or mulberry) paper. I am truly charmed by the idea of a snail shell nest!
An Anthophora curta napping on a rock by the beach in Isla Vista, in Santa Barbara, California, this past Summer 2023 while visiting UCSB. Its silvery colours and large green eyes are captivating. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/173683325
A log-turning revealed this rare glimpse of a Buff-tailed bumblebee queen in hibernation👑💤
If you accidentally disturb a hibernating bumblebee, gently cover her back over with the same material that she had dug into and leave her be. Find out more👇🏿
Despite being in hibernation, this queen bumblebee still managed to lift the middle limb, the typical defence response? Makes me wonder just how deep bees sleep, or whether they can wake up rapidly as need arises.
The goldenrod flowers are gone now, so are the bees.
I think this is a Cellophane Bee (Colletes simulans). They are solitary and build their nests in the sandy ground in the garden.
Large body size differences across species in Hymenoptera. Here, an example of a small masked bee (~7 mm) next to a minute ant (<3 mm) on a flower of European sea rocket (Cakile maritima). https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/120155371
And these two are both tiny next to a violet carpenter bee (Xylocopa violacea), measuring well over 40 mm in body length! https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/178658335 Similarly dramatic size differences exist within ant castes of the same species.
Happy #FlyDay
I haven't posted for a while again. Life is crazy. So here's a fly I know nothing about. My guess is it's a hoverfly in the genus Quichuana (rat tailed maggot fly) but don't really know. I wonder if it is mimicking a Ceoloxys bee. It even has the hairy eyes.
For the #SciArtSeptember prompt “metallic” my linocut Osmia lignaria, the metallic blue orchard mason bee.
We think of bees as living in hives, but these bees live in reeds or natural holes which they divide into chambers with mud walls. We also tend to picture yellow and black stripes, but this small bee is blue to blue-green. 🧵1/2
Yesterday I witnessed a behaviour I never expected from a solitary bee: she unloaded all its pollen baskets onto a leaf, then tasted it, and soon after flew off, releasing a cloud of pixie dust as she jumped and beat its wings down to take off. As if she had had a change of heart, and the pollen wasn't good enough?
To be clear, I have never seen a bee unload its pollen baskets—ever. This they only do deep inside their nests to provision a new cell for an egg. And I say this having photographed thousands of solitary bees over the last 5 years. #nativebees
A stone wall feels like an entire ecosystem unto itself!
An estimated 5000 miles (8000 km) of walls in the #YorkshireDales, they're so familiar to me, the boundary lines of my childhood and now for the adult who has returned.
How beautiful. In a very different place, Hvar island, Croatia, there are many stone walls – as a way to keep the soil stone-free for cultivation. The stones have many holes and crevices, and are a favourite home to native bees like from the genera Nomioides and Hylaeus. These are very small solitary bees, at 3 and 4 mm in length respectively.